Healthy days have been continuing.
Which is nice, but at the same time I can feel the fear of my savings steadily shrinking. It seems I have become the kind of person who cannot live without exterminating goblins.
「Master. The search for Yamaguro will be concluded.」
While I was in the mansion dining hall teaching the staff how to maintain firearms, Sierra came in.
「That took quite a long time.」
It has been fourteen days since Yamaguro was defeated. Several adventurer teams were deployed and had been searching over a wide area.
「Yamaguro is a monster designated as a disaster-level threat. Even one appearing causes a huge uproar. Before, when there was a sighting report, we sent Mishinie and the others to investigate.」
Ah, so that was the reason for that. Coming to search for Yamaguro and then getting eaten by goblins would be pitiful.
「So the Adventurers’ Guild has concluded that there are none, then.」
「They will probably continue to enforce caution for a while. But if they keep assigning people to Yamaguro any longer, the adventurers will not be able to make a living.」
Apparently, to survive the winter, capable adventurers move to territories with less snow. Those who cannot move go to towns and survive by gathering deadwood and such.
「Do monsters not appear during winter?」
「Even monsters have a hard time surviving winter. They migrate to warmer places.」
「Thinking about it like that, the vitality of goblins is abnormal. They can survive that cold.」
The only fur they have is around their waist, yet they wear nothing and can survive even when they are thin as sticks. That is strange. Is there some kind of secret behind it?
「Will you still exterminate goblins during winter?」
「Those guys still move around even in winter. Besides, if we find their nests and blow them up, we can exterminate them without much trouble. For exterminators, it is the busy season.」
A single hand grenade can exterminate three to five of them. The only real effort is the travel. This time I have the Apport Watch, so I do not even need to go back home to get supplies. There is no way that would be a burden. This year I will exterminate a lot of them.
「When that time comes, please take me with you. I spent almost all the reward money just preparing what I needed.」
「Master. Please let us join as well. It is unfair if only Sierra goes.」
Even the other staff started nudging me about it. I am happy if goblins disappear from this world, but the thought that it also increases my workload is unbearable.
「Can we participate in the Great Goblin Extermination Operation as well?」
「If I let too many people join, everyone’s share will shrink.」
Even if we gather two thousand goblins, dividing them among the contractors would leave about two hundred per person. Three thousand five hundred yen times two hundred is… seventy thousand? No, seven hundred thousand yen.
That is still a large amount of money, but once you get used to the goods from my original world, it disappears in no time. If the staff join as well, it will probably drop below five hundred thousand. At that point, after building a simple fort and subtracting the costs of ammunition and food, it would turn into a loss.
「In that case, how about doing it in two places… no, three places?」
The one who suggested that was one of the staff. His name was Lot, if I remember correctly. A man in his mid-twenties who mainly handled monster dismantling at the Adventurers’ Guild.
「Three places?」
「Yes. For the Great Goblin Extermination Operation, we have three powerful fighters participating: Cyrus-sama, Mishinie-sama, and Azur Rise-sama. It would be a waste to deploy all of them in a single place.」
His reasoning might be a bit questionable, but it is true that putting those three in one place would be excessive. In fact, the three of them might wipe everything out on their own. The other contractors would probably complain.
「Even so, it is too late to increase the number now.」
Now that the mansion has been completed, I have asked the giants to build a simple fort. Asking them to make two more would be impossible.
「About that… there is an old fort west of the town of Mars. It was built long ago. It was abandoned several decades ago, but it was meant to protect people from monsters. It should not be that badly collapsed. If we send the giants there, the repairs might be easy.」
「From the way you are saying that, there is another fort as well?」
Since he said three locations, that means there is another abandoned fort.
「Yes. There is one about a two-day walk from the town of Rihar. I think Kainzel-sama would know it well. That should be the place where he was first assigned.」
「…Lot, you are surprisingly well informed.」
「They are all things you learn while working at the Adventurers’ Guild.」
Is that so? I looked at Sierra.
「Well, I do know about them, but Lot is the one who can make suggestions like this. He is well connected when it comes to information.」
「Then why were you doing dismantling work? You should have been an information broker.」
「Dismantling pays better, and I can take home any leftover meat.」
Ah, I see. Well, everyone has their own circumstances. There is no point in me saying anything about it.
「Hmm. First, we need to check whether those forts can actually be used.」
It would be a problem if we go all the way there only to find out they cannot be used.
「First, we will hold a meeting. Gather as much information as possible about those forts.」
「Understood. I will collect information from each Adventurers’ Guild branch.」
「Master. Please let me use the Pioneer.」
「I want to ride it too!」
「Actually, please buy one for the staff!」
The male staff members started making noise, all saying they wanted to ride the Pioneer.
「The Pioneer is expensive. I cannot just buy one that easily.」
「Then buy the vehicle the giant children were using!」
Bicycles, huh. Well, bicycles are not that expensive. Maybe I will buy two mountain bikes for around twenty thousand yen each as practice machines and see how it goes.
For now, I taught the motivated staff how to ride them. After spending about two hours with them, Kainzel returned on the Wolverine.
「Kainzel-san. I have something to discuss regarding the Great Goblin Extermination Operation. Is now a good time?」
「Yes, that is fine.」
So we moved to the dining hall, and Lot explained his proposal to Kainzel.
Leave a Reply